A group of natural products called peribysins (A-G) were isolated by Yamada's group from a strain of Periconia byssoides OUPS-N133 originally separated from the sea hare, Aplysia kurodai (Antibiot. 2005, 58, 185). The structurally interesting natural products, especially peribysin E (1), attracted researcher attention toward developing anticancer and anti-inflammatory agents owing to its potent cell adhesion inhibitory activity. It was observed that the natural product (−)-peribysin E has shown more potent activity than the gold standard herbimycin (2) in the cell adhesion inhibition assay.

The treatment of Cancer, a broad group of more than 200 various diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth has become a major area of focus these days. When Cancer begins it invariably produces no symptoms with signs and thus the complicacy in its treatment is very high. In 2007, cancer caused about 13% of all human deaths worldwide (7.9 million).
Leukemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called “blasts.” The HL-60 (Human promyelocytic leukemia cells) cell line is a leukemic cell line that has been used for study on how certain kinds of blood cells are formed. Further, inhibiting the adhesion of such Human-leukemia HL-60 cells to human-umbilical-vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) more potently has been continuously done but only some of the results have been successfully reported. A potent cell adhesion inhibitor was the main target for the treatment of such human leukemia.
In an Article titled “Absolute Stereostructures of Cell-adhesion Inhibitors, Peribysins A, E, F and G, Produced by a Sea Hare-derived Periconiasp.” by Takeshi Yamada, Mitsunobu Doi, Atsuko Miura, Waka Harada, Mika Hiramura, Katsuhiko Minoura, Reiko Tanaka, Atsushi Numatain J. Antibiot. 2005, 58, 185-191, relates to the first isolation of Peribysin E and related metabolites from a strain of Periconia byssoides OUPS-N133 originally separated from the sea hare, Aplysia kurodai. These natural products, especially peribysin E, were reported to inhibit adhesion of leukemia HL-60 cells to human-umbilical-vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). Because of its potent cell-adhesion inhibitory activity and its scarcity, peribysin E has become a target for total synthesis.

An article titled “Total Syntheses of (+)- and (−)-Peribysin E” by Angie R. Angeles, Stephen P. Waters, and Samuel J. Danishefskyin J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 13765-13770, achieved the first total synthesis of both enantiomers of peribysin E and thereby reassigned the absolute configuration. In their elegant synthesis, a Diels-Alder reaction followed by semipinacol-type ring contraction served to secure the stereochemistry of peribysin E.

Further, recently published article titled “Stereoselective Total Synthesis of (±)-Peribysin E” by Hung-Yi Lee and Chin-Kang Shain (J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 598-605) reported a stereoselective total synthesis of (±)-peribysin E via α-carbonyl radical cyclization and semipinacol-type rearrangement. Their synthesis provided (±)-peribysin E in 3.2% overall yield from 2-methylcyclohexen-1-one and is adaptable for preparation of analogues and derivatives of peribysin E for anticancer study.

Accordingly, the discovery and development of new cell adhesion inhibiting agents and their total synthesis therefore remains the need of the hour.
The prior art processes as described above for the synthesis of Peribysin E suffer from several drawbacks including being very long and strenuous routes for synthesis of the compound and involves the use of costly reagents which makes the process uneconomical. Further, the routes of synthesis for Peribysin E and compounds thereof included in the prior art leads to poor yields and thus the problem of scarcity still persists.